Sunday Nov 7th ride

[Biciclista]

It rained all night. It was cold and dark. My husband wanted to ride to Fremont for an important meeting. I was invited. I wanted to go, it was a celebration for him. But he wanted to ride. AUGH
I'd had a sinus headache on and off for days, and as a result, i wasn't getting good sleep.. We watched the weather and it was finally time to go (8am) and it wasn't raining, so I donned all my wool.. ALL wool, yes! and put on my showers pass raincoat, and packed away my buff... and my rainpants... and we hopped on our bikes running over leaves; yellow bumpy ones from the horse chestnut trees, orangey pink ones from the ash trees, assorted yellows and oranges from maples, browns and reds from the oaks, all mushed down and wet all of them; definitely not the kind of leaves you'd want to romp around in.
We dropped into downtown which was quiet, the only traffic was people looking for parking for the football game.. We passed that muddle and zipped to Fremont where we took a detour to the bakery and checked their dumpsters. Unfortunately there was no bread in them, only trash. We got to our destination where I discovered I had no plastic bag to cover my saddle in case it rained (weather report: 60% chance of rain all day) so I went to the PCC(co-op) and bought a few things and a plastic bag. Then I went and joined the meeting where I sat and drew pictures of crows on street light posts and listened.
After the meeting, we happily noted that the sky had lightened a little bit. We went home the scenic way. We took the Burke Gilman trail to the arboretum where the colors were lovely, but not as nice as last year, and continued down to Lake Washington. we zig zagged back to Rainier avenue to make a purchase at Mutual fish, and then climbed the hill back to home. 26 miles, 1000 feet of climbing and finished in the sunshine. I was really glad we rode!

[Catrin]

Sounds like the two of you had a lot of fun!

I finally was able to ride for 10 miles with no pain I got to chase crunchy leaves on my bike in my favorite park - which is now right across the street from my new apartment! I did not, however, clip in, that would be a bad idea for my still-healing hamstring.

I also remembered that stopping is far less stressful for me when I am not clipped in, and while I did not want to push things too far, I am glad that I went for the ride. I did incorporate one hill in my route, and even that did not hurt. It was, however, a small hill...I kept the route as flat as possible.

So things seem to be on the upswing, as long as my head doesn't get ahead of my tendons and muscle healing...

Though most of the leaves have already fallen, there was something special about riding through this large park yesterday. There were very few cyclists out, though perhaps a few more runners than I had expected to see. Most of the leaves have been blown off the road, and it was much easier to see the deer in the woods as I rode by.

[Crankin]

Sunday was a very short 15.5 mile ride to Ferns Country Store for coffee and back, because it was the only way I could get myself outside to ride in the cool, damp, rawness. I don't mind cold, but it was just raw. So we picked a coffee stop that was more than 4 miles away, to get a decent ride in. I felt pretty good on the way back. I was able to catch and drop DH on my hill, so there is something wrong here...

[Becky]

Yesterday was the Fair Hill Jamboree, a gathering of mountain bikers at the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in eastern Maryland. I had a pretty good time, despite the bitter wind and much more stopping than I'm used to on a ride. My group's leaders were good and showed off some of the nicest singletrack out there.

14 miles that has me hankering for more! Darn work, getting in the way of my riding...

[Biciclista]

gee, sounds really cold on the east coast!

[azfiddle]

My ride was 4 times around the parking lot. I rode too much Saturday (grrr- hip issues!) so I went to meet my husband after his ride, and got a chance to try out a bike from the Cannondale demo display that was parked there. It was a 2011 Cannondale Six, carbon frame.... and I don't have any money anyway, but it was fun to try out such a nice bike.

[withm]

gee, sounds really cold on the east coast!

Not so much cold, but WINDY these past few days. Temps have been high 40s -low 50s but it's been blowing 25-40kt NNW all day today and almost that hard the last couple days.

[badgercat]

My ride was 4 times around the parking lot. I rode too much Saturday (grrr- hip issues!) so I went to meet my husband after his ride, and got a chance to try out a bike from the Cannondale demo display that was parked there. It was a 2011 Cannondale Six, carbon frame.... and I don't have any money anyway, but it was fun to try out such a nice bike.

Cool, where in town did that happen? I've never ridden a carbon bike... would be fun to try someday.

[7rider]

Not so much cold, but WINDY these past few days. Temps have been high 40s -low 50s but it's been blowing 25-40kt NNW all day today and almost that hard the last couple days.

Very windy.

Sunday, I did what I will call and "Inverse Duathlon" (bike/run/bike) - with reeeeeally long transitions!

Rode my bike 7.5 miles to the office, where our Fitness Center had it's first "World Run Day 5k." We all met at the building front, I got out of my bike shoes, into my running shoes, munched on some Powerbar Gel Blasts as we walked 1/4 mile down into the park for the run. Ran an off-road 5K with more hills that I really wanted to deal with. After the run, we walked the 1/4 mile back up the hill to the Fitness Center, I ate a granola bar, put my bike shoes back on. Chatted some. Grabbed an apple and some nuts for later, and rode 7.5 miles home.

Took a shower and collapsed on the bed "checking my eyelids for leaks" I told my DH!

[Bike Writer]

Nice bikes and great looking autumn foilage + it sounds like you had a great trip.

Sunday I had a nice ride in Island Lake State Park with a minor exception of a small wreck, I got out of it ok but I broke the handlebar lever for my rear brakes, so that last three miles and today's ride were with front brakes only. LBS didn't have a lever in stock and won't have it till Thursday but I'm NOT missing out on this great Indian Summer weather we are enjoying in Michigan and surrounding parts. Another great ride today with a pal and planning on riding again tomorrow. Enjoy it while we can because winter is right around the corner for us here in the Middle-Atlantic/Mid-West states. Color me happy.

Came across a friend who snapped this photo of me and my pal riding this afternoon.

[azfiddle]

Badgercat, they had the demo truck at the UMC El Tour training ride Sunday, and apparently at Miles Ahead on Tuesday. Definitely felt great compared to the Fuji. Had I not been sidelined, I could have actually taken it out for a full 3 hour ride that morning.